Plastic bottles, such as PET bottles, are widely known as beverage containers. Bottles are sold in sizes ranging from compact sizes of 500 ml to medium sizes of around 1000 ml and up to large sizes of 1500-2000 ml.
Generally in stores such as supermarkets, large bottles are placed on display shelves maintained in a horizontal position. Display shelves for compact bottles, on the other hand, have a slope or a slope with rollers. Therefore when a bottle (merchandise) displayed on a display shelf is removed by a consumer, the bottles in rear rows are caused to slide to forward rows under their own weight. A stopper is normally installed at the front surface of the display shelf, and a bottle sliding down stops at the front surface of the display shelf when the bottom portion of the bottle main unit contacts the stopper. (See, e.g., Japanese Published Patent Application H08-299121.)
Bottles have a variety of designs with respect to height, shape, and the like. The height of a compact bottle is designed at 218 mm, for example, to match the height of a multi-level display shelf. On the main unit of a soft drink bottle there are generally ribs formed in order to increase aesthetic appeal or mechanical strength, and decompression absorption panels are concavely formed in order to suppress deformation due to decompression of contents. (See, e.g., Japanese Published Patent Applications 2005-81641 and 2001-48147.) Bottles in which the bottle main unit has a complex shape continue to be developed based on consumer aesthetic tastes.
There are conventional bottles which take into account aesthetics, bottle strength, and the like. However, no consideration has been given to bottle shapes that prevent the bottles from overturning or tipping when displayed in a store. As a result, there is a risk, depending on bottle shape, that a bottle can tip forward due to the shock of hitting the stopper when the bottle slides down from a rear row to a front row on a display shelf and fall over within the display shelf. Such falls can occur not only when a bottle is removed by a consumer, but also when bottles are being replenished from the rear of the display shelf.
In particular, there is a risk that on bottles with a concave decompression absorption panel in a position corresponding to the top end portion of a stopper, the bottom portion of the bottle may contact the mid portion or the bottom portion of the stopper before contacting the top portion of the stopper. When contact of this type occurs, a comparatively large momentum acts on the bottle, making it easy for the bottle to fall over.